COLUMBUS — A Youngstown Democrat running for state auditor in 2006 used fake loans from friends and family to make his campaign coffers look flush and then cut a deal with the Ohio Democratic Party to get out of the race in exchange for $115,000 in donations to pay off the bogus debts, according to a complaint filed with the Ohio Elections Commission.

The complaint and accompanying notes from the Federal Bureau of Investigation detail a game of political hardball in which John B. Reardon allegedly pressured the Ohio Democratic Party and later landed a high-paying state job for himself in the Strickland administration and one for his girlfriend in the offices of former Ohio Treasurer and Attorney General Richard Cordray.

After a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department Special Investigations Inspector Gary Snyder filed the complaint against Reardon in February. The Ohio Elections Commission last week dismissed the complaint because the statute of limitations had expired, but Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said he is working with the Mahoning County prosecutor to see if charges will be brought against Reardon.

“As this investigation unfolds and we find out that the allegations are true, the party will seek full recompensation,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. “We would want our money back.”

Reardon, 54, who lives in Columbus but works for a recycling company in West Virginia, was not available for comment. His attorney, Lou DeFabio, said his client didn’t mislead the state party or trade on his willingness to exit the auditor’s race for state jobs.

“He was well-qualified (for the state post) and he did a good job when he was there,” DeFabio said.

DeFabio said Reardon has been answering questions about his campaign finance reports and allegations connected to a public corruption investigation for nearly four years.

“We’ve had a task force look at this stuff. We’ve had special prosecutors look at this stuff. We’ve had the Mahoning County prosecutor look at this stuff. I presume a federal prosecutor at some point has reviewed this material. And here we are six-plus years after John Reardon dropped out of that state race. And we have O’Brien looking at it now,” DeFabio said. “At some point, it’s time to move on. This has been reviewed, investigated, answered over and over again. John has continued to deny any wrongdoing, repeatedly, regarding these (campaign finance) checks.”

In early 2006 Reardon, then treasurer of Mahoning County, ran for state auditor, threatening a Democratic primary against Barbara Sykes. Seeking to avoid a costly contested primary, officials at the Ohio Democratic Party wanted Reardon to bow out. Reardon and his political consultant, Leo Jennings III, then started negotiating terms for his withdrawal from the race, according to documents filed with the Ohio Elections Commission.

Jennings of Youngstown, who later worked for and was fired by Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann, told the state party that Reardon needed $100,000 to $125,000 in campaign contributions to pay off campaign debts, according to FBI interview notes reviewed by the Dayton Daily News.

“Reardon also wanted a promise of a cabinet-level state job after the election. According to Jennings, the ODP agreed to pay off Reardon’s campaign debts but did not promise him a job,” the FBI notes indicate from an interview conducted with Jennings on April 27, 2010.

After Democrat Ted Strickland won the governor’s race, Reardon was named superintendent of the division of financial institutions at the Ohio Department of Commerce in February 2007. The job paid $100,984 a year and involved regulating banks, credit unions and other financial entities. Reardon resigned in May 2010, two months before he and others were indicted in a case alleging public corruption over a land deal in Mahoning County. A year later, the public corruption case was dismissed without prejudice, which allows the government to re-file charges at a later date.

Strickland said he had nothing to do with Reardon’s hiring.

Reardon told FBI agents that Strickland called him after he dropped out of the race to tell him that he did the right thing for party unity. Reardon told the FBI that Strickland stopped short of promising him a job but said his administration would need good people with Reardon’s abilities.

“Based on the tone of Reardon’s conversation with Strickland, Reardon said he was unequivocally certain that Strickland knew that a job was part of the tentative deal for Reardon to get out of the race,” according to a FBI interview of Reardon in July 2010.

“That’s ridiculous,” said John Haseley, who headed Strickland’s transition team and later became his chief of staff. Haseley noted that he spoke with hundreds of people who wanted jobs in the Strickland administration. “If there was the suggestion that there was a quid pro quo, that’s just not true.”

Reardon had proven himself as Mahoning County treasurer and was well liked in the region so it was decided to give him a chance, he said.

Redfern, the state Democratic chairman, said he doesn’t know how Reardon got hired. “I never had a conversation with John Reardon about a job in the public sector or the private sector,” Redfern said. “Under no circumstances would I have recommended him for a position.”

The FBI interview notes say Jennings and Reardon were working through Michael Culp, who was then executive director of the Ohio Democratic Party. Culp, who now works for the Parma mayor, declined to comment on the Reardon case.

Shortly after Reardon left the auditor’s race, Democrat Richard Cordray and his fundraiser, Melissa Barnhart, called to ask him to contribute to Cordray’s 2006 campaign for state treasurer, according to the FBI notes. Reardon said Barnhart worked as his fundraising consultant as well.

Reardon contributed $10,000 to the Cordray campaign and asked Cordray to consider hiring Darla Zubal, who was Reardon’s girlfriend in 2006, the FBI notes allege. Cordray hired Zubal into the state treasurer’s office on March 26, 2007, at $60,000 a year. She then stuck with Cordray when he moved to the attorney general’s office, where she made $89,981 a year.

Cordray now serves as President Obama’s director of consumer financial protection.

Reardon eventually married the 33-year-old Zubal, who had her appointment revoked by Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine in March 2011.

“Reardon insists that his contributions to Cordray have had absolutely nothing to do with Cordray hiring his wife,” the FBI notes said.

FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson said she couldn’t confirm or deny whether an investigation involving Reardon is still open.